Teacher attacked for 'ear cuts'

Angry parents and relatives assaulted a teacher in the northern Bangladeshi district of Bogra after he cut the ears of 17 students with scissors.

Abdul Mazid Sardar, a madrassa teacher, cut the ears of the students --- aged between six and nine --- for failing to learn Islamic verses.

He was finally stopped by other members of the staff alerted by the children's screams.

The children were rushed to hospital and released after stitches and first aid.

Irate relatives then mobbed the school and assaulted Sardar, who was later hospitalized. "As the students were creating chaos I just wanted to scare them by showing the scissors," Sardar told journalists from his hospital bed. "Probably at the time an evil force mounted on me."

Authorities said he has been sacked.